Sacred History, Selected from the Scriptures: With Annotations and ..., Volumen5

And. • they were astonished at his doctrine: for he. taught them as one that bad authority* and. not as th> scribes. . .

And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried. out, saying, Let 05 alone, what' have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Naiareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know"thee who thou ait, the Holy One of God- ,

Ani Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. And when the unclean spirit had torn him, and cried with a loud voice, he came out of hirn. ;{ .....

•And they were all amazed, insomuch that they questioned "among themselves, saying, What thing is this? what new doctrine is this? for with authority commandeth he even. the unclean spirits, and they do obejr him.

And immediately his fame spread abroad throughout all the region round about Galilee.

And forthwith, when they were come out of the synagogue, they entered into the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John.

But Simon's wife's mother lay sick of a fever, and anon they tell him of her. And he came and took her by the hand, and lift her up; and immediately the fever left her, and she ministered unto them.

And at even, when the sun did s. t, they brought unto' him all that were diseased, and them that were possessed with devils. And all the city was gathered together at the door.

And he healed many that were sick of divers diseases, F 3 and

and Cast out many devils, and suffered not the devils to Speak, because they knew him.

And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out and departed into a Solitary place, and there prayed;"" 1

And Simon, and they that were with him, flowed afteVhim.

And when they had found him, they said unto him, All men seek for thee. And he said nnto them, txi us go into the next towns, for therefore came I forth.

And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and. preaching of the gospel of the king, dom, and healing all manner of sickness, and all manner «'f disease among the people.

And his fame went throughout all Syria; and they trcaght anto him all sick people that were taken with tiivers diseases, and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatic, and. those that had the palsy; and he healed them, . f .

And there followed hira great multitudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem^ and from Judea, and from beyond Jordan. . .

ANNOTATIONS And REFLECTIONS.

* The scribes and doctors only expounded the law, and? taught the Jews the traditions of their fathers; but Jesus, coming with the power of God, delivered his doctrines with the authority and dignity of a divine teacher^; Our LeRD differed from the Jewish doctors, not only in his manner of instructing, but also in his conduct, which

"" ." i

* Bishop Newcome's Observations on our Lord's Conduct. .

perfectly

perfectly agreed with his instructions, and distinguished him as superior to those who said and did not.

By curing all kinds of diseases as he did, our Lord' proved that he was God. What is meant by being possessed with devils, is not precisely determined. Many learned authors suppose, that this possession was no more than a high degree of madness, imputed by the superstition of the Jews to the spirits of the deceased (called demons) entering into the bodies of the living. Others imagine, that some of the apostate angels,. who were cast out of heaven, had power to enter into men, and afflict them in a dreadful manner; but it is certainly best for those who are not capable of deep speculations and metaphysical disquisitions, to take ihc Scripture in a literal sense on this subject, and to stipv pose (as appears from the account of the vmptation irr the wilderness, and as many expressions of our Lord's seem to imply) that * Satan, from the time of his :tpostacy, endeavoured to erect on earth a kingdom, in apportion to the kingdom of the Lord God intended for the Messiah; and.that, on our Saviour's appearing on earth, Satan exerted himself, and employed the wicked spirits who fell with him, in opposing the first establishment of Christianity.; and they might perhaps be per-. rnitted to prevail to a certain degree, in order more effectually to display the superior power and goodness of Mm whom God had sent into the world, and also to render the defeat of the devil more conspicuous. How tie devils entered human bodies is impossible for us to know*.because it is amongst the number of spiritual things which we have no faculties to comprehend: but if the opinion that they did so was erroneous, surely our

• Kewcome's Observations.

F 4 Lord Lord would have convinced his hearers of the falsehood of it, instead of confirming it, as he did by repeated miracles. Jesus, knowing that the disposition of the Jews was such, that those who believed him to be the MesSiah would want to make him King immediately, and place him on the throne of Israel, and that others would oppose his doctrine, and raise commotions in the state, forbad the demoniacs to say that they .knew him. He came into the world as the Prince of Peace; he therefore reserved on all occasions to take every precaution that human prudence, directed by divine vuisdom, could Wggest to preserve it.

How astonishing must it have been, to behold ona whose outward appearance proved him to be of human kind, evidently acting with divine power! None but an Almighty Being could effect such wenders, and we must iccisider our Saviour. in these instances as God manifested in the flesh. * Here he is above our imitation; for no one could (as Nicodemus justly observed) perform such miracles unless God were with him. "But let us contemplate our Lord's behaviour as Man, and we thall find it possible to improve ourselves to some degree of resemblance to him, if wc will endeavour to follow his blessed example. It is true, that we cannot, lik« him, cure all manner of diseases amongst the people; but wc may often mitigate, and sometimes, by well-disposed charity, remove the bodily afflictions of our fellow, .creatures. If we cannot restore reason to the distracted mind, we may, by religious arguments and rational advice, prevail with some to part with their sins, which are as great tormentors as evil spirits; and calm in others those fierce and turbulent passions, which often end in distraction. We may also imitate the prudence

• See Sccf. xxir.

of our Saviour, by avoiding all occasions of disturbing the peace of a neighbourhood, and may learn of him humility. His piety should also excite aur emulation; far if he who did no sin, arose before the morning light, and retired into a solitary place to pray, how much more need have we to withdraw occasionally from the world, that we may recollect what is required of us,. and intreat our heavenly Father to enable. us to da his blessed. will t • •

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SECTION XXXI.

JESUS CUKETH A MAN OF THE PALSY,..

From Luke, Chap. V.—Mark, ii.—Matthiw, ix..

And it came to pass on a certain day, as he was teaching, that there were Pharisees and doctors of the. law sitting by, which were come out of every town of Galilee, and Judea, and Jerusalem: and the power of the Lord was present to heal them.. . And straightway many were gathered' together, insomuch that there was no room to receive then:, no, not so much as about the door: and he preached the word. unto them.

And they came unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was borne of four. s . . .

And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was: and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay.

And Jesus seeing their faith, saith unto the sick of the palsy, Son, be of good cheer, thy sins be forgiven thee, '' . . • • • .